Sunday, April 08, 2007

The Sopranos last stand

Later tonight, "The Sopranos" begins its final series run with the first of nine episodes. Easily one of the best TV series ever, the show has been captivating ever since it premiered in 1999 and has helped cement HBO as a creative force for some of the best television shows and series since (Band of Brothers, The Wire, Deadwood, Curb Your Enthusiasm).

Even though the show has dropped off a little in quality since about Seasons 3 and 4 - a little too much time was spent with the Vito coming out of the closet storyline over the past season, for example - "The Sopranos" has consistently maintained a high level of output in bringing us the mob world of New Jersey. Picking up from the Martin Scorsese's gangster world of Goodfellas, the show has been a great ride, no matter how gratuitously violent or expletive-laden.

Things are going to go down in a glorious fury during these final episodes, and rumor has it that two main characters will get whacked/killed off. My guess is that Junior and Paulie will bite the bullet; Junior's dementia and desperation are too much for him to handle, and Paulie's hot temper and past trangressions will probably be his downfall. Christopher would be a prime cadidate, but he should survive. Silvio is too level-headed and careful to get whacked, and while it would be interesting to see the writers kill off Tony in the end, I don't think we'll see it happen (although another attempted hit against him wouldn't be surprising).

Regardless of what transpires, these last nine episodes should be a fuckin' blast.

Here's a video of every single death/whacking on the show:



MP3: A3 - "Woke Up This Morning" (Sopranos Theme Song)


3 comments:

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wallycrawler said...

Hey F.J. that's the best spam letter yet .Ya almost want to write to that chick . Then you'd get on a spam list that wouldn't stop !

Anyway the Sorpranos are fantastic this season ! Who do you think will be the last ones stand'n ? Do you think Tony's gonna get whacked or end up in prison ?

F.J. Delgado said...

Ha wally, you're definitely right about that spam comment... the blog she pimps is pretty decent though, so I'll let it fly this one time.

As for the Sopranos, the show has really been great. In terms of who's gonna get clipped, I really think Paulie and Junior will go, with Paulie getting whacked either as payback for something he did in the past, or as part of the gangland wars.

I'm not sure what I'd like to see for Tony... he could go to prison, going the Goodfellas route, he could get whacked, which would be interesting but I think I'd rather see him live, especially since we could maybe get a Sopranos movie somewhere down the line.

Maybe he could wind up losing a family member, sort of like The Godfather Part III, making him regret his past.

Whatever happens, should be a good final few episodes.